who will give them credit
who will give them credit when they are refusing to pay staff for work already done.
Troubled integrator 2e2 Group has let go 319 UK sales and admin staff and, to add insult to injury, their pay for last month is being withheld, sources claim. After weeks of negotiations by investors and bosses to keep the debt-laden business afloat, the decision was taken yesterday to call in administrators FTI Consulting for …
"Except that leaves the staff open to legal action by the administrators..."
That's IF the administrators can pick individuals out of a mob of angry staffers...
I take your point though, company assets and all that. Boils my blood that people can be treated like this, though. Next report will probably be that any staff who haven't turned up for work following not getting paid will be fired for breach of contract and not get redundency pay, or somethign similar.
Potential legal action from the administrators only if they can prove who took an item. A friend worked for Enron, and made off with a number of laptops when they collapsed. He said that with hindsight it wasn't a surprise they went bust - among the many pointless puchases by the senior management was an enormous model railway for the boardroom!
Many years ago (2002 I think) when The Accident Group in Manchester went belly up, they owed their staff back pay as well. There were reports (and pictures) of some staff removing fully populated Cisco 6500 switches from the DC, loading them into their cars/vans and driving off (wasn't just cisco switches but as I'm in networking that caught my eye). I don't recall the administrator going after them but I may be wrong.
No class action law suits in the UK. I do agree thought that the directors will most likely walk away with their massive pension pots and bonuses intact, only to wreak havoc on other companies. All thanks to the old boys network that keeps the senior suits on the merry-go-round.
"Customers will be asked to undertake to pay amounts due to the companies (without set-off or counterclaims) together with an undertaking to pay for the ongoing cost of services as they are incurred at the existing contractual rates,"
So the firm are wanting to rip off customers who are also creditors? If I was a customer, my reply would be good luck with that.
This may prove tricky and will depend on the contractual documents applicable. Usually, they will always include a clause that renders contracts null and void on any insolvency process of a supplier or customer.
2e2 customers are however are legally obliged to pay debts for services already rendered and delivered.
....about 5 years ago.
I used to work for one of the companies 2e2 bought out and left as soon as that deal completed - this was obvious from the start. No business that is as aggressively acquisitive as this over such a short time frame is genuinely in it for the long term - its about lining your pockets as quick as poss for the people at the top, and then buggering off when it all goes wrong.
How long until Capita follow suit i wonder, though the sheer volume of government contracts in their bag may stave off a total collapse ....
My husband was an employee of 2e2 until a conference call along with the other 318 at 11am this morning, They were told they were redundant with immediate effect and yes you thought right - you won't be paid on Thursday!!
Thanks for nothing 2e2, not only are we now broke this month but you had the audacity to let my husband incur another £100 petrol costs by sending him to Scotland yesterday to work on a contract!!
B******S!!!!!!
I'd like to see the fuckers walk 300 plus people to the gate.
The laws on corporate responsibility really need to be tightened up in this country - and employees should be placed at the head of the list when it comes to doling out whatever assets remain. Waiting until two days before pay day before telling people they won't be paid is not just unfair it's irresponsible and should not be allowed to go unpunished.
Bet the director's made sure their expense accounts were all settled before they made the announcement.
That's true in the UK too, we have to claim what the government will give us in compensation for lost salary and we are counted as prefferential creditors for the rest of the salary. The government portion is not as much as I was getting paid and comes out of National Insurance contributions.
I imagine that those who were made redundant were escorted off the premises so that they couldnt take anything with them.
However anyone who is still employed by this bunch should be immediately going on sick leave. I mean as of tonight/tomorrow. Pick up any kit, phones, etc you can, and phone in asap on the sick. This will give you time to find a new job as you wont have to be at work. The only reason you are still employed is so the administrators can try and recoup the credit for services supplied, if they dont leave you in the customer can claim breach of contract. You will not be paid I can almost guarantee it.
Also as you are at home any kit you have on you cannot be removed. Just deny all knowledge of said kit, you have left it in the office, in the data center, etc... Remember not to use it, answer calls to it, etc, you wantto establish you dont have it!
I would not normally advocate theft, etc, but this bunch of shysters is going to screw everybody.
Anonymous obviously...
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Who is looking after the interests of the employees? Not the administrators that is for certain. Surely they should appoint a leader.
Furthermore I am not sure that you are obliged to return the laptops or any other equipment if you are not getting paid.
Take what you can out of the company, they owe you!
Aslo if 2e2 in another form survives they must expect to be sued for unpaid salaries.
"....Furthermore I am not sure that you are obliged to return the laptops or any other equipment if you are not getting paid......" Be careful as those laptops are assets and belong to the company. Whilst you could argue that the compnay owes you cash it is up to the auditors to sell the business (which means someone else then owns the laptops) or liquidate the assets. By helping yourself you are committing theft, and a criminal record is not a good thing to be adding to your CV.
Now, if you should find yourself inthe position that you can pinch the laptop that is used by a senior manager or director without them having any way of tracing it to you.....
"Laptop, what laptop? I left it at work guv, in the server room/build room/desk. Sorry"
Yeah, just make sure the disks from the CCTV system go mysteriously missing too..... Oh, what, you actually believe those CCTV cams aren't there to record employee thefts too?
When I was made redundant last October
Walked in the next day and filled the car up with equipment
They didn't care as the entire office was going to be sent to the tip
Got a nice projector, server, 10 x 2TB drives, a couple of 22" LCD monitors and a few tools
I am keeping them for a rainy day, which is looking like today
The law may pay say that unpaid employees are the highest priority, but that doesn't mean that they'll get paid anytime soon. As the HMRC are the first to get paid, if there's not enough cash from liquidating the company (which itself takes time), then the money comes from a state fund that pays out very belatedly.